For Our Scars
by Yuki-Roentgen
Summary: Piers survived the underwater lab and had been taken care of Sherry until she's called to a mission. Piers is left in Jake's reluctant care, but when Piers wakes up he struggles to remember and cope with the events of losing contact with the BSAA and losing his arm. When Jake begins to help the pup, the two begin to find forgiveness and something more. (A little wierd) JakexPiers
1. A Long Week

Wow, long time no post eh? Well, back swinging with some Jake Muller and Piers Nivans. I hope you guys enjoy!

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The deal was supposed to be a simple one: keep an eye on the pup until Sherry returned from her mission back in Lanshiang. This was mostly simple due to the fact that the pup was out of it as he had been for the entire week, he'd apparently gone through several of these phases, but while "normal" he kept demanding she not send him back to the BSAA base, and reluctantly she agreed and made Jake swear to the same terms.

"Supergirl, this is not what I agreed to!" Jake growled as he lifted the pup's surprisingly heavy dead-weight self. "You said watch, not freaking feed and bathe and be a damn babysitter-" he continued as he threw him over his shoulder like a ragdoll, heading for the bathroom.

"Jake, you can't just expect him to lay there gathering filth, he needs a bath or he'll wreak-" "Why can't you do it then if you find it so important?" He retorted with as he heaved him into the chair he'd dragged into the bathroom.

"Jake. I'm in China and will be for another week at least," she reminded him with a sigh, "Please Jake? This is important, and I have done it before."

"It can wait a week!"

"Jake!"

It had been worth a shot. "Can I at least leave his clothes on? I mean they could use a wash t-" It took the merc a moment to process what she'd said earlier, "Wait! You've seen the pup naked!?" Jake half yelled through the line.

"Listen Jake, I gotta go okay," she replied with a sigh, "Just don't drown him please?"

Jake simply growled a reluctant aggreement, "Mhm. Be safe Supergirl."

"Thank you, Jake, and always!" Beep.

Closing his cell, he hit his forehead against his hand, _How in the hell do you get yourself into this bull shit anyways?_ He patronizes himself, glimpsing over to the zombie like Piers slumped in the chair. He hadn't even been briefed on what had happened to the mutt, afterall, Jake had went off on his own after the deal was completed with Sherry with his blood. Honestly, he was surprised to hear he had lived, afterall, Redfield making it out of there was surprising enough with the size of that piece of sushi Sherry and him had left them to fight. Imagine the look of surprise on his face when he get's a call from Sherry saying Piers made it too, but to not tell anyone. He hated to say it, but he didn't feel bad for Redfield, now he finally got a bit of a taste of his own medicine.

He shakes his head, looking at himself in the small mirror hung above the sink. He takes a breath before setting down his cell and turning to lean against the counter, just staring at the soldier in the torn up uniform. Since he was taken into Sherry's custody, the two of them had been giving him doses of the newly developed vaccination of Jake's blood. The antibodies had been extremely effective, but couldn't give him back his arm. His arm had been amputated at the shoulder and his face was still scarred despite the skin graphs over the larger ones. According to Sherry, if he snapped out of it, maybe being in his uniform would help him remember what'd happened. Rolling his eyes, he pushes up his sleeves, "You're getting in the tub first. You better appreciate this, pup," he grumbles, half tossing him into the shower-tub and undoing what remained of the vest and removing the shirt, tossing it into the corner before giving a sigh and looking at the kid's pants. "Yeah...what Sherry doesn't know won't hurt her."

With that Jake snatched the detachable shower head, turning on the water at Piers' feet and adjusting the temperature on his hand to what he considered warm. He sat on the edge of the bath, spraying down the pup til he was soaked head to toe and spraying him overhead to get his now pretty damn shaggy hair wet enough to wash.

"Aaahhh!" The yell jolted Jake back, almost making him drop the shower head on Piers' head as Piers seemed to half seize, jerking abruptly away from the water and smacking at Jake's hand, his feet slipping as he struggled to stand. Steel blue eyes watched him in confusion before dropping the shower head and grabbing the pup's shoulders, "Piers! Piers! Calm down what the hell!?"

The soldier was shoving Jake back in a panic, his hazel eyes looking around frantically for something recognizable, "W-wa-water!" Chapped lips finally choked out, still attempting to stand when Jake turned off the water and returned to Piers' side only for Piers to grab onto him.

"What the-" Despite the on-off modes with him, he was still a strong little shit, Jake stumbling back as he accidentally pulled Piers out of the tub and thanks to the soldier's weight, he toppled over, back slamming on the tile, taking all the force of the fall. "Son of a bitch-" Jake huffed, rolling onto his side as he coughed, trying to restore the air to his lungs, making the still frantic Piers roll off of him.

Piers continued with the motion, army crawling to the sink and pulling himself up, stumbling as his out of practice feet tried to support him when he darted out of the room, tripping on his own feet all the while, slipping a bit at every few steps.

"Piers!" Jake yelled his head rolling for a moment before he pushed himself up and out of the bathroom, "You're really gonna test my patience pup!" He yelled, managing to tackle Piers to the floor just before he reached the door. Christ he was glad he lived alone or the cops would be at the door in minutes. Wrestling with him for a moment, he finally managed to pin his wrists, "What the hell's your problem?" Jake yelled at him, receiving a blank stare in response.

"J-ja-ke?"

It was more a question than a greeting, making Jake cock his head, "No Piers, fucking Santa Claus." The look the pup gave him made Jake only more concerned as it looked like Piers actually had to consider the likelihood of him being Saint Nick. "Yes, I'm Jake you idiot. What the hell was with-that?" He asked, his voice calming to a normal tone, taking a hand to motion to the bathroom, both him and the floor soaked.

"W-whe-re am I?" Piers muffles, hand pawing at Jake's chest to get him off of him, which Jake reluctantly obliges too. "W-whe-re's C-Cap-tain?"

Jake rubs his temples, this was going to be one hell of a long week.


	2. An Unaccepted Apology

In conclusion, this is mostly just a long as heck drabble. It's moving, but as far as a timeline I'm just winging it. I swear Jake and Piers'll stop being at eachother's throats eventually ." .

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It had taken a good hour to convince Piers that he wasn't trying to kidnap him or anything and a good five attempts before reaching Sherry for her to tell him neither was allowed to kill the other. She was relieved however that Piers woke up, fully responsive. Yeah, Jake could've lived without that timing. It had taken another hour to clean the bathroom and the trail the two had left on the floor. At least Piers had been able to sit his ass down and change himself in the meantime, though that had meant lending him some clothes.

"You done in there or are you trying to climb out the window? Cause a two story drop would be pushing your luck!" He yells from behind the door to the guest room.

Silence. The back of Jake's head hit against the door with a small thud, "Piers!" He called out again. "Don't think I won't come in there and check!" He wished he was bluffing. _Damn it...you better not have went back to-_ He opened the door to see Piers-thank goodness with pants on-but a shirt half on him and half looking like it was strangling wherever his head had gotten lost in it. Jake just burst out laughing, "You find the circus in there?" He called, leaning against the door laughing for a moment more before debating how long he should leave him like that and whether or not pictures were necessary.

Piers just huffed, struggling more and more to get the damn thing on, Jake was roughly his size, though barely smaller, and getting on clothes was hard to get on with one arm. Sherry had assisted him with virtually everything that he'd let her help with, but putting on shirts had always been one of them. In fact, Sherry had invested in a good number of button ups for this reason since they were so much easier to put on. He was just tangling himself up worse. "Damn it!" Jake's laughter certainly wasn't helping. With a bit more struggling, he finally yelled out, "Shut up!" Sitting back onto the bed, now attempting to get out of the mess of cloth.

Jake raised a brow to him, going quiet and watching.

"Would you just get out of here Muller! I certainly didn't request your assistance or to be your entertainment!" Piers yelled, giving another futile tug at the shirt. He really shouldn't be yelling for him to leave, even Piers knew that, but both men went silent for what felt like an hour. Then, footsteps.

Jake placed a hand on Piers', pulling it from what he had gotten into the sleeve and tugging the rest of it off of his head, taking a moment to just look at the pup. Piers looked down for the first moment before glaring up at Jake, standing up abruptly though stumbling, "It was too small all right!" He snaps, going to face the window, watching as the sun hung lazily over the mountains. His sole arm crossed over his chest. Steely blue's just gazed down at him before huffing and shaking his head, going into his closet and digging for something a little easier to put on. Tossing him a black button up after a few moments, he leans against the closet's frame to make sure the pup got it on this time. "...Thanks."

They ended up sitting in his excuse for a living room, a couch and tv-the money having obviously gone into the tv and the game systems beneath it rather than proper furniture for the room. Flipping through channels, there was nothing on, so finally Jake offered the remote to him for the second time, "Sure you don't wanna look sharp eyes?"

Piers didn't even move, just his eyes glimpsed over, "I'm fine, I would've told you if I saw something," he replies calmly, the words lacking their usual aggression. So they remained in silence, Jake fighting the urge to just hit his head against the back of the couch to make some form of sound besides the drone of Fear Factor.

The question had been drumming on his mind since this morning. "So. You're afraid of water?"

"Shut it Muller," Piers growls, looking away, his hand once more going to where his other arm should have been. "Not like I didn't almost drown or anything."

Jake responds with a half-hearted sneer, leaving them in silence for a moment longer. "I didn't ask you to you know."

"What? Ask me to protect Sherry and you? To do my job? To fight alongside my Captain? How about you stop being selfish!" He snaps, standing up and turning to leave when Jake grabs him by the shirt and slinging him down back onto the couch.

"Why don't we start with you stopping being an asshole a'ight! I'm giving you a place to stay til Sherry gets back and I'm just trying to apologize!" Jake snaps back-the temper ran in the family.

"_I_ never _asked_ for an apology," Piers pulled out of his grasp, "How about you apologize when you're doing it for yourself and not necessity." They both had felt and done it, it came with the territory. Telling your partner's family or the few buddies that made it out of the crossfire in mostly one piece. Apologies meant so little to the two, and they both knew it.


End file.
